Sometime after the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Google announced that it will be disabling traffic information and crowd data on Google Maps as the information could be misused against large groups of Ukrainian citizens trying to escape the bloodshed. Google has now announced that it will be adding Air Strike alerts as well.
The Ukrainian government reportedly requested Google to add the latest feature that will be a part of Google Play Services. Ukraine already has an existing raid alert system in place and the latest feature will help extend its reach.
Google claims that it will start rolling out the feature immediately.
Kent Walker, President Global Affairs at Google in an official blog post wrote:
Tragically, millions of people in Ukraine now rely on airstrike alerts to try to get to safety. At the request, and with the help, of the government of Ukraine, we’ve started rolling out a rapid Air Raid Alerts system for Android phones in Ukraine. This work is supplemental to the country’s existing air raid alert systems and based on alerts already being delivered by the Ukrainian government
Google’s VP of Engineering, Dave Burke claims that the company also made use of the same low-latency system for detecting earthquakes.
The system leverages our low latency alert mechanism we built for earthquake alerts. The air raid system is supplemental to, and shares the same triggers used for, the country's existing air raid alert systems. 2/3
— Dave Burke (@davey_burke) March 10, 2022
Amidst the conflict, Google has already halted most of its services in Russia including Google ads and many of its commercial activities such as payment functionalities, monetization features for YouTube, etc. The company also blocked numerous Russian state-backed channels from its platforms.
